Errata…no one purposefully creates it, 
but there must be a defined process in how to handle it. Now, there’s digital errata and there’s print errata and each has its own defined process. An area that can cause issues for the learner is when (more…)
July 3, 2021 – System Maintenance Reminder
LMS & TMS System Maintenance Notice
Summary
The Online Learning System has a scheduled maintenance outage.
Date: July 3rd, 2021 from 9am – 9pm Eastern.
Affected Systems: The Learning Management System (LMS) and Training Management System (TMS) will be offline during this time.
Detail: This outage is to apply updates and improvements to our enterprise system. As the system has evolved, and continues to do so, this and other proactive procedures are applied to ensure that the foundation that our system relies on remains powerful, scalable, and secure.
Extra Important Details:
Using the LMS Assessments – Test Generator: Best Practices
Now for an important message from the support team…
If you have used an online system, you have likely experienced an online issue. Just this morning a very large support system, Fastly, a cloud tool to help with load times, had an outage that took down major components (more…)
Test Generator Exams – 2011 NEC and 2012 70E – related Courses
The Legacy Test Generator has been undergoing a phase-out over the last few years. The legacy system was built on Flash. Flash has had a long and prosperous life for use in delivering online resources; however, that will end on December 31, 2020. As a result, this system will no longer function beyond 2020, and access to exams for all courses will only be through the LMS Assessments tool.
We have completed migrating exams from the Legacy Test Generator to the new Online Assessments system; however, Legacy Test Generator exams for 2011 Code-related and 2012 Electrical Safety-Related Work Practices (ESRWP) courses will not be converted. To support those program still using some of those older courses, we have created multiple exam versions in PDF format that you can request. For each exam version, we have three variances with the same set of questions shuffled across the three.
The following is the list of courses for which we have PDF exams available. To request exams and answer keys for these courses, please reach out to Steve Strickland by phone at 888.652.4007 or by email at sstrickland@electricaltrainingalliance.org, and let him know if you want different exams (different questions on each) or variations of the same exam (same questions shuffled).
For more information on the decommissioning of the Legacy Test Generator, please see those posts.
Legacy Test Generator Conversions Are Complete!
The Legacy Test Generator Decommissioned as of 12/31/2020
Special Reports Found in the LMS – including PTSI OLS Report
Desktop Instrumentation Trainer Kit
The Desktop Instrumentation Trainer kit was created to support each of our programs and our quest for hands-on training materials. This kit brings the main calibration concepts presented in the instrumentation training courses to a smaller, more cost-effective concept. Instrumentation Process trainers are still available and supported; however, this option provides a great first step touchpoint for your student. (more…)
Instrumentation Module 1 Flash Replacement
The time has come to retire the FLASH version of Instrumentation Module 1! This retirement means we have some “why,” “how,” and “when” answers to address the availability of the revised course.PTSI Online Learning System: My Records Area
How awesome would it be to have all of your important documents and credentials that you have earned during your time as an apprentice, or as a journey-level worker, right at your fingertips? Suppose an immediate need arises with your contractor, and you are needed to work at a secure facility, but before you can go, your clearance information is needed. Will you have it readily available, or will you miss out? The electrical training ALLIANCE is excited to announce one of the many amazing features within the PTSI Online Learning System (OLS) — the My Records Area.
Review Mode Access Implemented
The following message was shared by Executive Director Todd Stafford to all programs on September 17, 2020, via Broadcast Memo.
As a reminder of this change happening, here is that message again, coming to you via the Blended Learning Blog. – Please have a wonderful weekend.
The electrical training ALLIANCE strives to meet the daily needs of our JATCs by continually improving curriculum content and delivering tools for the benefit of the apprentice. Following vNTI, we were asked by Training Directors about modifying some of the available settings in the Learning Management System (LMS). Our goal, just like yours, is and always has been to help the apprentice engage in quality learning during their apprenticeship and throughout their careers. With that in mind, last month, we sent out a survey to get feedback from you regarding two LMS settings: Activity Access Locking and Review Mode Access Locking.
- Setting 1: Activity Access locking is the minimum proficiency level a student must achieve to complete the lesson practice or items to advance to the next lessons or items.
- Setting 2: Review Mode Access locking is the minimum effort level required for the student to access and review lesson practice performance.
- In Review Mode, the student can review their answers to questions, how it is scored (correct, incorrect, partially correct), and reveals what the correct answer is to each question and any provided solution notes or descriptions.
For a review of the full descriptions of these settings, please access this link. (Be sure to click on the image to view the full 2-page PDF)
The results are in. Thank you to all those who participated in the survey. We heard you, and we are taking action. The positive responses and thoughtful comments that we received regarding both features were outstanding and appreciated. It is together that we will best provide solutions to help in training within this industry.
The two settings that we were asked to survey you about require different levels of effort to enact and maintain.
- Setting 1: Activity Access Locking will NOT be administered at this time, but at a later date following SME input per topic, Training Director input, and follow-up communications. Please note, no setting will be administered without clear communications about the timeline and any program or user impact.
- Setting 2: Review Mode Access Locking will be available for all courses that do not currently have this setting starting on September 26th. There are a few details to share regarding how this setting will be applied.
Based on your feedback to the survey, we have determined to begin using this setting at a 60% level. This setting is not at all to state that anyone believes 60% is an acceptable value of proficiency on coursework; however, we are merely modifying what is currently set at
0% and raising the minimum level of effort on quizzes to access a quiz review to 60%. This, in turn, continues to allow you and your programs to administer local policies on performance requirements. The use of the report data continues to enable you to administer your own local response to performance requirements.
To say it another way, your JATC’s local policies and procedures should still dictate the successful coursework completion requirements as this setting does not make any changes to the construct of what you have made for your apprentice requirements.
Two New Tools Added to the LMS Assessments Area Support In-Person and Remote Testing
The LMS Assessments area has recently added two helpful improvement features to support both in-person and remote testing. These additions, along with local policies, standards and control augment the LMS Assessments tool to support your training and evaluation needs. Be sure to (more…)